Former Oppenheimer Park residents now on ‘pathway to permanent housing’: minister

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The minister responsible for evacuating campers from Oppenheimer says the hundreds of people who have been living there for over a year are now on a “pathway to permanent housing.”

Late Friday night only two people remained and Saturday’s noon deadline for people to leave passed without any police enforcement of the province’s order to relocate campers, according to Minister of Poverty Reduction and Social Development Shane Simpson.

“The site is shut down, the fencing is going up. All of that work’s done and the city and the park board are getting ready to move in and clean the site up. The site is essentially vacant,” he says.

Simpson credits the successful and peaceful relocation to the approach taken by the province, the city, and the community since the provincial order was issued April 25.

“Our commitment was to go in, to take a compassionate approach, while working with the community: meeting people one-on-one on the site, talking to them, assessing their needs, and then making offers of housing to them based on what made the most sense, determined by their individual circumstances,” he explains.

Marking the next phase for Oppenheimer today. Very moving ceremony led by Chief Ian Campbell, with blessings & songs from elders Shane Pointe & Dennis Thomas. Now our focus is finding permanent homes for the 260+ moved over last 2 weeks. #dtes #covid19bc pic.twitter.com/FFN9KpC8Pq

— Shayne Ramsay (@Shayne_Ramsay) May 9, 2020

The use of peer workers to facilitate housing offers was crucial, according to Simpson.

“They played a critical role in ensuring that we had the tone and the environment created there that gave people some confidence that they should accept these offers, that they were going to be in a better situation.”

Temporary housing in hotels or other accommodation amid the pandemic is only the first step, Simpson says, adding the province and city are considering several options for the future.

Among those are building modular housing, acquisition of existing buildings, and prioritizing placement in existing units.

“I’m very hopeful that we in fact are going to be able to deliver permanent housing for people over the next number of months, so they can transition from their current situation in hotels into something that’s more secure long-term,” Simpson says.

With files from Kareem Gouda